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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25915978">It Takes Two To Tango</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH'>CaptainJZH</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Best Friends, Bisexual Male Character, Cute Kids, Friendship, Gay Male Character, Junior High, M/M, Middle School, Written for a Class</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:08:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25915978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seth and Jack were best friends. Their first middle school dance was coming up soon, though, and Seth has been having some strange feelings towards Jack...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Male Character/Original Male Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It Takes Two To Tango</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally written on March 11, 2019!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>“You lose!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> the video game blared through the crummy TV speakers. Seth sat in his basement, attempting to beat the game </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ultra Krash Siblings </span>
  </em>
  <span>but utterly failing at the final boss. He was 14, in the Eighth Grade, and not very smart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, this is the eleventh time!” Seth cried out, throwing the controller to the ground. He felt a hand fall onto his shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe if you’d actually block his attacks for once,” a familiar, sarcastic voice told him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jack?” Seth asked as he turned and saw his friend standing behind him, arms folded.  “What are you doing here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well for one thing we were supposed to study for Pre-Algebra today,” Jack began, “But I think you have a much more dire issue right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh?” Seth inquired, cocking his eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know you suck at Krash Siblings without a player two.” Jack hopped over the couch, plopping himself down next to his friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, I suck at it even harder when I play against you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who said I was playing against you?” Jack asked as he plugged a second controller into the console, adding his character into the match. “It takes two to tango, after all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“True,” Seth nodded. “Now, shall we dance?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two boys unpaused the game and went to town on the final boss, their characters kicking the giant yellow foot offscreen and annihilating it in a blaze of pixelated glory.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Winner!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>the game exclaimed. Seth and Jack high-fived each other, celebrating their victory. “We did it!” Seth shouted, hopping up onto the couch. He almost immediately lost his footing, collapsing down towards the floor. Just before his face implanted itself into the linoleum, Jack caught him, and for a brief series of moments, Seth felt himself be cradled within Jack’s arms, the boy’s grip reassuring him, as if to say, “I got you.” His cheeks blushed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seth was quickly kicked back into reality, with Jack’s “reassuring grip” letting go completely and letting him fall (an admittedly shorter distance than before) to the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!” Seth laughed, giving Jack a punch to the shoulder. “That was a dirty trick.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I stopped you from falling off the couch, didn’t I?” Jack said with a smug smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That!” Seth started to say before trailing off, “is besides the point.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack chuckled, plopping himself back down on the couch and reaching for his backpack. “Putting a pin in that, we should probably study now.” Seth shrugged nonchalantly, but found that his cheeks were still flushed. He’d been doing that a lot lately around Jack; giggling to all of his jokes, blushing whenever their hands touched, glancing over at him during class… He tried not to think about it, but, well, their first ever school dance was around the corner and the question of who to go with lingered in his mind, and the answer he kept arriving at was invariably “Jack.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“And for all you singles out there, you better get your dates soon for the Eighth Grade Formal!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>the school announcements declared the next morning. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“If you don’t, you’ll be cold and alone forever! ...What? They will be!”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seth idly sat in math class, attempting to focus on the quiz in front of him, but kept looking over at Jack. Not to mooch answers off of him, but to… well, to be honest, Seth wasn’t sure why. But he just kept thinking of Jack. His cute face, his dumb pranks, the way his nose crinkled when he laughed… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“MrsOthmarmayIbeexcused?” he quickly asked, making a break for the bathroom. Forcing himself into a stall, he heaved in gasps of air, a startling realization dawning on him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, okay…” he breathed, talking to himself, “So what if you have a crush on your best friend? So what if you wanna ask him out to the dance? It’s not like you can do anything about it…” He sat down on the toilet seat, letting out a sigh. A thought occurred to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well why not?” the 14-year-old asked himself, “He’s mature for his age! You ask him out, he says yes, and you’re happy! He says no, and you go back to being friends! To heck with uncertainty!” Seth marched out of the bathroom, determined to ask Jack to the dance next chance he got. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“H-hey Jack…” Seth stammered, approaching him at lunch. “How’re ya doin’ on this fine school day?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re talking weird, you know that, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Seth snorted, “Me? Talking weird? You know who’s talking weird? You’re talking weird, you weird person!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ihavetousethebathroom!” Seth quickly announced, darting away from the conversation and into the privacy of a toilet stall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Idiot, idiot,” he berated himself, “What made you think that was a good idea? Oh yeah, you made you think that was a good idea! Stupid, Seth, stupid!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Seth?” he heard Jack ask at the bathroom door. “You okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… Seth isn’t here right now. Please leave a message after the beep. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Beep.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know it’s you, Seth.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seth fell silent, unable to say anything. Jack did the only thing a sensible eighth grader would do, and crawled under the walls of the bathroom stall, making Seth shriek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Gah!” he exclaimed. “You can’t just...do that!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, I had probable cause.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not a cop! And even if you were, you still wouldn’t be allowed to crawl into a bathroom stall while someone’s inside!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, cut the crap,” Jack said, making Seth shut up. “You’re acting weird, there’s a reason, spill it.” Seth forced himself to look Jack in the eyes (</span>
  <em>
    <span>those bright blue eyes…</span>
  </em>
  <span>), deciding to come clean.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jack, would you… Would you like to go to the dance with me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As a friend?” Jack asked, scooting closer to Seth. “Or  as a date?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> it to be a date?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead of instantly giving him an answer, Jack smiled and pecked Seth on the cheek, whispering into his ear. “I’d love that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-you mean that?” Seth asked, trying to wrap his head around what just happened. “I mean… You don’t think it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>weird </span>
  </em>
  <span>or anything?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack shook his head. “No? Honestly, I wanted to ask you but I didn’t have the courage.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seth laughed. “Really?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes!” Jack defended. “I was terrified!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well you didn’t show it!” Seth scoffed as they walked out of the bathroom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” Jack said, pointing his finger at his now-future-date, “Save the pouting for when I beat you in Krash Sibs after the dance.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What if I’m so suave that you let me win?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then, good sir,” Jack nodded, “Consider that your incentive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>will,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Seth smirked, sitting back down at the lunch table. And between the blushing looks and the giggles, they both had the same thought: The dance couldn’t come fast enough.</span>
</p>
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